The present disclosure relates to an image processing apparatus.
In the past, in the medical field, an endoscope system has been used when organs of subjects, such as patients, are observed. The endoscope system includes an endoscope having an insertion portion that is introduced into a subject, that has an image sensor provided at, for example, a distal end, and that has a flexible narrow tip; a processing device that is connected to the proximal end side of the insertion portion via a cable, that performs image processing on an in-vivo image in accordance with an imaging signal captured by the image sensor, and that allows an in-vivo image to be displayed on a display unit or the like; and a light source device that emits illumination light for illuminating inside the subject.
When an in-vivo image is acquired by using the endoscope system, after having inserted the endoscope into the subject, the illumination light, such as white light or special light formed of light in a predetermined wavelength band, is emitted from the distal end of the endoscope toward a biological tissue inside the subject, and the image sensor captures the in-vivo image. The processing device displays, on a display unit, the in-vivo image that is based on an imaging signal of the image captured by the image sensor. A user, such as a doctor, observes inside the subject based on the in-vivo image displayed on the display unit. As the technology used to observe a subject, there is a known technology that can sequentially display the in-vivo image obtained by an endoscope as a moving image, and the display the in-vivo image as a still image when a freeze command is executed (for example, see International Publication Pamphlet No. WO 2011/155429). The technology disclosed in International Publication Pamphlet No. WO 2011/155429 has a memory that stores therein a plurality of in-vivo images. When an input of a freeze command is received, an in-vivo image with small blurring is selected from a plurality of in-vivo images stored in the memory; and the selected in-vivo image is displayed as a still image.